A major problem in the delivery of hot food baked at a store and delivered to a home by store employees, such as pizza, lies in the maintaining of the food at an elevated high temperature during delivery. In northern climates during the winter, the difference in temperatures between the food being delivered and the environmental air may be considerable, and significant heat loss must be prevented if the food is to arrive to the consumer at an acceptable temperature.
In the home delivery of pizza it is conventional to utilize a receptacle or bag formed of thermal insulating material into which the box containing the freshly baked pizza is placed. The driver delivers the pizza to the customer as quickly as possible so that the customer receives the food at a temperature as close to the baking temperature as possible.
Various transport carriers and containers have been proposed to meet the aforedescribed problem and proposed solutions are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,683,889; 3,721,803; 3,746,837 and 4,134,004. While these devices do make progress toward solving the basic problem of maintaining the food hot, they have not been practical due to expense and operating shortcomings.
It is an object of the invention to provide a food carrying receptacle particularly suitable for the home delivery of pizza which is of an economical manufacture, highly portable, and capable of maintaining the pizza at the desired temperature during the delivery.
Another object of the invention is to provide a heated food carrier of such construction as to maintain a freshly baked and boxed pizza at the desired temperature without overcooking or otherwise damaging the pizza.
A further object of the invention is to provide a system for keeping a plurality of hot food carriers for use and wherein unusual skills are not required to utilize the inventive concepts.
In the practice of the invention a rectangular receptacle of a size slightly larger than that of a pizza box is formed of thermal insulating material. One end of the receptacle includes a closure flap to permit the interior of the receptacle to be closed, and internally, an insert is located within the receptacle which consists of a high density heat retaining mass, an electric resistance heater, and a thermal pad upon which the insert rests when placed within the receptacle.
The heatable insert includes an electrical connection fitting wherein an electric power source may be connected to the insert when the receptacle and insert are located upon shelves awaiting use.
A plurality of receptacles in accord with the invention are located on shelves and the resistance heaters of the inserts are each connected to an electric power source by a flexible conductor wherein the inserts will be heated to the desired temperature, approximately 200.degree. .F, and maintained at such temperature until use during delivery. Upon it being desired to use the receptacle the conductor is quickly disconnected from the heating element, the pizza box placed within the receptacle upon the insert, the receptacle closure flap is closed, and the direct support of the pizza box upon the insert will maintain the box and its contents at the desired temperature.